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Best Ever Vegan Cinnamon Rolls

One word to describe these homemade vegan cinnamon rolls: A-mazing! Don’t be fooled, these classic mouthwatering swirls of cinnamon are much easier to make than you think!Hello, friends! I hope you all are doin’ swell. And to all my ‘mericans out there, I hope you had an awesome Memorial Day. I’m starting to feel like I say this every week, but I am seriously so excited to share this recipe with you!

I am going to start off by saying that cinnamon rolls make me feel some type of way. I am 10000% a cinnamon roll fiend. Always have been, and I’m preeeetty confident I always will be. Just sayin’. I am a cinnamoner for life.

If you haven’t yet read about my obsession with cinnamon, check out my Vegan Oatmeal Raisin Cookie recipe to get the inside scoop. Cinnamon to me is like Frank’s Red Hot to the old lady in all the commercials. I put that sh*t on everything. I swear. I keep a stash of it in my lunch bag and I always have a giant container of it in my pantry. I’m hooked.

So when it comes to cinnamon rolls, count me in! But of course, like so many other treats, what’s commercially available in the realm of cinnamon rolls is just not up to par. Yeah, you taste good, but why the hell do you contain 15000 and 1 ingredients? And goooood luck finding a dairy free version, let alone a vegan one. I feel like a broken record saying this over and over again, but it’s so true! Le sigh.

These, though. These are absolutely fudging amazing. And simple, too! Who woulda thought. I know for me, time and effort were definitely factors that kept me off of and far far away from the homemade cinnamon roll making train for a very long time. Let me tell you, this is pretty much the best train, ever. If you love/like/thoroughly enjoy cinnamon rolls, all aboard! We’re heading to the land of pure bliss, aka Cinnamon Deliciousness, folks.

Now these are MY kind of before and after pictures!

The thing about this recipe that is most awesome sauce is how easy it is. There is no leaving to rise for forever, then cutting into rolls and leaving to rise for forever again, this is a simple 1-hour riser. I am by no means a pro when it comes to yeast based baking – lets just say I’ve had a lot of “is this sh*t even ALIVE??” moments – so if I can pull this off, you definitely can. You got this!

Mix, let rise, fill, cut, and bake. That is all. Then out come these beauties. They are ridiculously soft (no really, it’s ridiculous), have the perfect amount of chew, and are filled with ooey gooey cinnamony goodness. And since most of the prep time is for dough rising time, these really don’t require much time at all. Score! Easy, fast, and delicious. Oh, AND vegan. Double score!

Now please excuse me as I drown myself in these cinnamon rolls. I recommend you do the same!

Vegan Cinnamon Rolls

Prep Time: 1 hour, 20 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour, 45 minutes

Category: Recipe, Rolls, Vegan

Servings: 10 Rolls

Ingredients

Yeast Mixture:

1 packet (2 1/4 tsp) active dry yeast

1 cup dairy free milk, warmed

1 tbs sugar

Dough:

2 1/2 - 3 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup sugar

5 tbs vegan butter, melted (I used Earth Balance)

1 tsp salt

Filling:

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 tbs cinnamon

2 tbs vegan butter, melted

Glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar

1-3 tbs dairy free milk

Instructions

Yeast Mixture:

Carefully warm 1 cup of dairy free milk on the stove or in the microwave. Take care to make sure it is not too hot, or the you'll kill the yeast. The milk should feel warm to the touch, not hot (if you have a thermometer, around 110 °F or 37 °C)

Add 1 tbs sugar and stir into milk

Sprinkle yeast onto milk and sugar and stir

Allow to sit for about 10 minutes. If the mixture gets frothy and "grows", you're good to go. If nothing happens, your yeast is old or your milk was too hot

Making the Dough:

To a large bowl, add all dry ingredients (flour, salt and sugar) and stir together. Start with 2 1/2 cups of flour and reserve the other 1/2 cup if your dough is too sticky/wet

Gently melt the butter and add to flour mixture

Pour in your milk/sugar/yeast to the flour and butter

Slowly stir everything together until your dough starts forming

If you need to add the reserved 1/2 cup flour, do so now. The dough will be super soft and should be a little sticky

When you have a reasonably formed ball of dough, turn out onto a floured surface and gently kneed several times, or use the hook attachment on your stand mixer to kneed the dough

Oil a bowl and place your dough ball into it. Place dough in a dark, warm place to rise for 1 hour. I like to set my oven to it's lowest setting and place the bowl on top of the stove (not inside the oven!), covering with a towel

Filling:

In a small bowl, combine brown sugar and cinnamon

Take your newly risen dough ball and kneed a couple times on a well floured surface

Roll out into a rectangle. The size will depend on how thick you want the dough to be and how wide you ultimately want the rolls to be. I roll mine out until the rectangle is roughly 12" or so by 15" or 16", with the longer edges laying horizontal and the shorter edges laying vertical

Spread the melted vegan butter onto the rectangle. Leave about an inch border of each edge butterless, except for the edge closest to you

Spread sugar and cinnamon mixture all over your buttered dough. Use your rolling pin to gently press the filling down onto the butter

Starting with the edge closest to you, gently begin rolling the dough away from you

When finished, orient the roll so that the seam is facing down on your surface

Using a serrated knife, cut off about 1 inch from each side (this is where there is no filling)

Cut the roll into 10 sections of about 1 - 1 1/2 inches in thickness

Place rolls into a nonstick baking pan (I used a 9" round, an 8"x8" square would also work). If you're not using a nonstick pan, grease or spray your pan! I didn't need to grease my pan, but I did spritz the top of the rolls with a little coconut oil spray to get a little browning

Preheat oven to 350 °F

While the oven is preheating, place the pan of rolls onto the stovetop and cover with a towel again (this is a little mini rise - just for a few minutes while the oven preheats!)

When the oven is warm bake rolls for 25 minutes, or until they are golden and feel firm to the touch

Glaze:

Whisk together powdered sugar and dairy free milk in a bowl - start with 1 tbs of milk and add 1 tbs at a time if you prefer a thinner glaze